-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Robert Redford says bigotry , fear of change and a determination to personally destroy President Barack Obama have paralyzed the U.S. government .

Women and young people are the answer to fixing the gridlock that has partially shut down Washington , the actor told CNN on Tuesday .

`` Give them the reins , '' Redford said . `` I think they can do better than we have . ''

Redford , 77 , sat down with CNN 's Nischelle Turner to talk about his new film , `` All Is Lost , '' which he agreed could serve as an analogy to the shutdown crisis .

In the movie , Redford plays a lone sailor struggling to stay alive after his sailboat is crippled by a collision with a container ship .

`` At a certain point , I think , when things really get awful , when things get really bad and all seems to be lost -- there 's no hope , there 's no possibility -- then a lot of people quit , '' Redford said about his character . `` They say , ` What 's the point ? ' and they quit . And others keep going for no other reason than that . ''

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Redford : ` Why are these people behaving so stupidly ? '

The conversation then turned to the drama playing out in Washington , where a standoff between Obama and Republicans in Congress has forced the federal government into a partial shutdown and threatened a default on the U.S. debt .

`` It 's so divided now with the people that are so narrow and so limited that they would take us back into the past , '' Redford said . `` And I was trying to figure out , why are these people behaving so stupidly ? Why are they behaving so horribly that it 's crippling our whole country ?

`` And I think it has to do with fear . I think it 's a group of people that are so afraid of change , and they 're so narrow-minded that some people -- when they see change coming -- get so threatened by change , they get angry and they get terrorized , and then they get vicious . I think that 's who these people are . They 're so afraid of change that they 're behaving miserably . ''

Obama is `` a compassionate man who ca n't function '' in this political environment , Redford said . It `` is so decrepit , it is so paralyzed , and the worst of it is it is paralyzed by intention , '' he said . `` There is a body of congressional people that wants to paralyze the system . I think what sits underneath it , unfortunately , is there 's probably some racism involved , which is really awful . ''

Obama 's opponents reject whatever he might propose `` because their determination was to destroy this person , '' Redford said . `` They wanted , if it meant destroying the government , anything to keep him from succeeding .

`` I think just the idea of giving credit to this President , giving him credit for anything , is abhorrent to them , so they 'll go against it . Never mind that it 's the better good of the people , never mind that they 're supposed to be in office representing the interest of the public . They 're representing their own self-interests , which is very narrow and in some cases bigoted . ''

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Redford : All is not lost

But , unlike his latest film title , all is not lost , Redford said . He said `` something new '' is starting to happen that offers hope .

`` Susan Collins , who is a Republican , is saying : ` Enough of this . This is not the job I signed up for . I 've got to do something , ' '' said Redford , referring to the U.S. senator from Maine . `` So she 's bringing a bipartisan group together of women . I think the future should belong more to women and young people . ''

Women must save the country `` because a lot of men that were in control were behaving stupidly , '' Redford said . `` I mean , sometimes you say : ` Can we actually be this dumbed down , or am I actually hearing what I 'm hearing from some of these people ? Are they really , is that really happening ? ' It 's sad . ''

Does this mean Redford is already throwing his support behind Hillary Clinton in a 2016 White House bid ?

`` No , I would n't single out one woman over another , '' he said . `` I think it 's time to give more women a chance . ''

`` All Is Lost , '' which is almost a silent movie , with its sparse dialogue , hits U.S. theaters next week .

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CNN 's Doug Ganley contributed to this report .

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President Obama `` ca n't function '' now in Washington , Robert Redford says

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The actor says some in Congress are `` crippling our whole country ''

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Redford sat down with CNN 's Nischelle Turner to talk about his new film , `` All Is Lost ''

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He plays a lone sailor struggling to stay alive after his sailboat is crippled by a collision